Luciano: Butt out of tough situation

"I am a homeless veteran who tries to see the good in all situations," he says. "However, on a recent morning, I witnessed something that really distressed me."

Long before sunrise, some vagrants get up and go. Wherever they've slept and wherever they're headed, many start their days in Downtown Peoria, in the Main Street bar district. After the last revelers vanish, men on the fringes of society start street-level scavenging.

"I am a homeless veteran who tries to see the good in all situations," he says. "However, on a recent morning, I witnessed something that really distressed me."

Long before sunrise, some vagrants get up and go. Wherever they've slept and wherever they're headed, many start their days in Downtown Peoria, in the Main Street bar district. After the last revelers vanish, men on the fringes of society start street-level scavenging.

They're not looking for hand-outs. They're looking for cigarette butts.

Many smokers, especially bar patrons dashing outside to burn a fast one outside on a cold night, don't finish their cigarette. And many don't bother with the outdoor ashtrays. A few puffs and a flick of the fingers, and another semi-smoked cig skitters across the sidewalk.

Embers die. Tobacco remains. Treasures await.

"Many homeless love going there, because it is literally a tobacco shop out there," Charles says. "At the end of the day a man might have a half-pack of rolling papers, and no tobacco to fill them. Lots of us do this in order to have some type of comfort throughout the long, and now cold, days on the streets.

Maybe you hate bums. Maybe you hate smoking. But - to me, at least - it's hard to begrudge a man a cheap comfort when he lives outdoors.

Though the taverns are supposed to patrol for butts, it's impossible to retrieve every one. So, in this scenario, the homeless are doing a civic duty: grab a cigarette butt, reduce litter.

Cigarette scrounging is part of the rhythm of the city that few people notice. That changed at 5:45 a.m. one recent morning as Charles watched a bar employee leaving work.

"Instead of just going about his business, he took the opportunity to threaten and belittle a homeless man who was gathering cigarette butts up off the sidewalk. I watched this for about four minutes and went on my way, as I had a set destination and meeting to make.

"But my point is this: Why does it make a flip to this bar employee if this man assists in the cleaning up of waste? Get my point here, sir?"

"There were three squad cars with officers in them, right there," Charles says. "I guarantee, that if that homeless man was hurting anything, they would have snatched and put him in check. Had I been one of these cops, I would have cited the bar owner for disturbance of the peace, with the way he was carrying on."

But Charles doesn't want revenge or pity. He says he just doesn't want anybody to act like that bar employee.

"Homelessness is tough enough without jerks like him."

PHIL LUCIANO is a columnist with the Journal Star. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano, 686-3155 or (800) 225- 5757, Ext. 3155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil.